CNN
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Alain Delon, the French actor, producer and writer whose cool, enigmatic beauty made him an international sex symbol, has died at the age of 88.

“He died peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and family,” the family said in a statement to AFP news agency. Delon had struggled with poor health in recent years and suffered a stroke in 2019.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the actor. “Melancholic, popular, mysterious, he was more than a star: a French monument,” said Macron.

Delon will be remembered as an icon of French and European cinema who worked with many acclaimed directors. However, he was criticised for his controversial political views and attitudes towards women. Feminists were horrified when he received the honorary Palme d’Or towards the end of his life.

Born in Sceaux, a suburb south of Paris, Delon had a turbulent childhood marked by his parents’ divorce and frequent expulsions from school before serving in the French Navy and later taking odd jobs in Paris.

He made his first film appearance in 1957 in the role of a contract killer in the thriller “Quand la femme s’en mêle”, which in English is called “Send a Woman When the Devil Fails”.

This was the first of many antihero roles for Delon, who became a major figure in European film in the 1960s, working with such celebrated directors as René Clément (Plein Soleil, 1960, known in the US as Purple Noon), Luchino Visconti (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960 and The Leopard, 1963) and Jean-Pierre Melville (The Lion, 1967).

In 1968, Delon became involved in a sex, drug and murder scandal involving French high society, known as the Markovic affair. He was questioned but never charged.

He also appeared in numerous English-language productions, including the anthology film “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” (1964) and the westerns “Texas Across the River” (1966) and “Red Sun” (1971), but he failed to repeat his success in European cinema.

For his role as an alcoholic in Bertrand Blier’s Our Story, Delon won the César, the French equivalent of an Oscar, for best actor in 1985. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the passionate, penniless Tancredi in The Leopard.

His star faded in his later years, but at the turn of the century he reappeared on television, playing a seasoned detective in two miniseries: “Fabio Montale” (2002) and “Frank Riva” (2003–2004).

In 2005, Delon was made an Officer of the French Legion of Honor for his contribution to world cinema.

Family feud and controversy

Delon’s last major public appearance was to receive the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, which is emblematic of his career. Women’s rights groups criticized the move, pointing to previous statements by the actor in which he admitted to hitting women. A petition rejecting the honor collected more than 25,000 signatures.

He was married to actress and model Nathalie Delon from 1964 to 1969 and the couple had one child, Anthony.

Delon had three other children: a son, Christian Boulogne, with singer and actress Nico, and Anouchka Delon and Alain-Fabien Delon with Dutch actress Rosalie van Breemen.

Delon is a polarizing figure and has been criticized for his close relationship with Jean-Marie Le Pen, the figurehead of the far-right French Front National, with whom he had “a 50-year friendship,” according to BFMTV.

As Delon’s health deteriorated, his children became embroiled in a public dispute over their father’s health and care.

According to CNN partner broadcaster BFMTV, Anthony and Alain-Fabien had accused Anouchka of hiding Delon’s health condition from them and of manipulating the actor.

This followed a legal battle in 2023 in which Delon’s children filed a complaint against Hiromi Rollin, a close companion of the actor who had posed as his partner, for violence, harassment and abuse, including against her father, according to the French news channel.

Rollin, in turn, filed a lawsuit against Delon’s children after they were evicted from his estate in Douchy in northern France, accusing them of gang violence and theft. All of the lawsuits were dismissed, according to BFMTV.